14 DAY TRIAL // Google has published a Chrome extension named Go Back With Backspace, thus restoring a feature the company removed from its browser in Chrome 52, which was released at the start of August.
Back in May, to the dismay of a large majority of its users, Google announced it would remove the "navigate back" functionality of the Backspace keyboard shortcut, which doubled for so many years as a "Back" button.
Four in 10,000 users used the Backspace key as a Back button
Google explained its decision by saying that only 0.04 percent of all Chrome users used the keyboard shortcut to navigate back. Additionally, 0.005 percent of those Backspace presses (and "back" navigations) came on web pages containing forms, meaning the user most likely pressed it by accident and lost all the form's data, requiring to refill all the fields.
As such, the company decided to improve the browser's UX (User Experience) by removing the ability to go back to the previous page by pressing the Backspace button.
Chrome's more hardcore users didn't like the change, and the company was on the receiving end of some hate-filled criticism.
Eventually, the Chrome community moved on, and developers created Chrome extensions that replaced the functionality when Chrome 52 came out at the start of August, and the feature was officially removed from Chrome's codebase.
Google decides to release official extension
In the past, Chrome extension developers had been known to suddenly change their mind and start delivering malicious code or ads via extensions that became very popular.
Most likely to avoid this kind of developers from taking advantage of Chrome users looking for an alternative, Google has now released an official extension that replicates the original functionality.
The Go Back With Backspace extension works by loading some JavaScript code on your page and nothing else. The extension works just like the original feature, but not on Chrome internal pages (those starting with "chrome://").
At the time of writing, the extension has only over 10,000 installs, meaning Google was right in removing the Backspace functionality since it wasn't that popular among its regular non-tech users.